She slightly frowned, but the smile quickly returned to her face, "I am afraid this is the first time we have met, I am Lariel Lightheart, a sage of Silver Sword Order, a humble servant of our Goddess,"

She then looked at Phoenix, "Reveon Sile'dur I believe. Who would have thought we will meet so soon..."

"Indeed..." Phoenix said while deep in a thought, "I was expecting for the meeting to be more... private. Does the Goddess have a message for all of us?"

When I heard him I was unable to suppress a chuckle and Phoenix looked at me with a raised brow. This close to me he should have been able to feel my thoughts through our bond, but I guess it was a bit hard to believe.

From his previous visit, he made a conclusion that Lariel was able communicating with the Goddess, the truth was... much simpler.

"She IS a Goddess."

"What do you mean?" Phoenix looked at me surprised, just like everyone else in the hall.

I still have to find a way to awaken his soul, so Phoenix couldn't see her in the same light as me. Mana perception alone is simply not enough to perceive a soul, be it your own or that of the others. But my devour soul is limited only to Reaver class.

"You do remember that I can see souls, right?" with my eyes still directed at Evelyn, I said to Phoenix, "At first, I was tricked by that blinding light, but now I am sure of it... her soul is missing. I think everyone will agree that she looks too pretty for a zombie. That leaves only one possibility..."

"Does... does it mean... she is Goddess?!" a pixie Champion reacted to my words immediately. "But she looks nothing like when we met her in that place..."

"You mean she isn't lying?!" asked dryad on whose shoulder the pixie was sitting and received a nod in response.

I have to admit, this was the first pixie I saw that wasn't a female. His voice, just like Rin back in Endorod City, was much louder than you would expect from a body his size. But now that I had wind manipulation, I could recognize when someone else used it as well.

Hmm, generating sound through wind manipulation... interesting.

"By the tits of..." Jack stopped in time and I chuckled when tried to imagine the face of Goddess if she heard the rest.

"E... Evelyn?" Miriel was also shocked.

She probably didn't expect to meet the Goddess when decided to come with us, just like most of the Champions from the looks of it.

Was this a secret?

Probably not for everyone... some priests and templars looked like they already knew.

Evelyn sighed and then shook her head, "It's forbidden for gods to enter the realm of mortals, the consequences would be... dire. What all of you see is a vessel I use to be in touch with my people. I would like all of you to keep this as a secret."

"Great... demons, gods..." started to speak one of the Champions, she was an elf and was the only woman clad in heavy armor among the Champions. "I wonder if there are angels too? Hey Bull, do you think Cameron could be one? His looks are suspiciously too perfect..."

"That templar?" replied to her minotaur, "I don't think so... most likely it's our role."

"Ha, if ugly bastard like you is an angel, then the standards have fallen." she started to laugh.

"If you are really a Goddess..." a dryad Champion looked at Evelyn, "Was there any need to summon us? Many of us were hunted like animals during that summoning and..."

"There are many rules that bind me..." interrupted her Evelyn, "and I already said this body is only a vessel, it holds only a tiny fraction of my power. While I am much stronger than any of you, I can't even leave the temple. You probably heard about Sirel, the previous sage who died during the summoning. She was my vessel before this. The artifact enemy used then has sealed the space around the temple and my link with her was severed."

"But..." the dryad paused for a moment and probably wanted to say something more, but human not far from her asked first.

"I know this was never a part of the deal, but... if we fulfill our part of the bargain, could you send us back to our world?"

As I heard him, my heart started to beat faster...

Father.

Evelyn was silent for a moment and then started to speak, "Has any of you ever wondered why it had to be you? Couldn't I just summon Champions using souls from my own world? For you, it's a completely new yet foreign world, but for them, it's their home. It goes without saying who would be more inclined to help."

The question caught everyone off guard and when no one said anything, Evelyn continued.

"There is a reason I can't do that... People born in this world don't even notice his power, for them, it always was a part of the world... but I am sure that all of you know what I am talking about. You should have noticed his presence the moment you have arrived."

"The system." whispered pixie.

Evelyn smiled, "As God of Order, Qiendorh is the most powerful god in existence... His power shapes the very laws of the world... But... his influence hasn't reached the world you came from yet. This is also why it had to be souls from your world. They are yet to be touched by his laws and with the bodies I created, it was possible to bend some of his rules, thus making you into Champions. But now... now even your souls are a part of him and should any of you get back... his influence would spread there as well. It's very hard to find a world without his influence and I never had any plans to send you back..."

A few Champions started to complain, but Evelyn stopped them by raising her hand.

"But..." she looked at me, "For you, I might make an exception."

I really wanted to see my father, or at least tell him I am alright. The desire was... overwhelming. But the world itself had nothing to do with it.

Friends? I never had many of them in that world. Myriads of men and women sought to get on my good side as long as I remember, but their aim was only the wealth and power of my father. I never considered them as friends.

I then looked at Phoenix.

If I learned something during the time I was away, it's that I would miss him even more than my father. Maybe he would follow me if I asked, but if he didn't... I would stay.

I also could no longer imagine myself as a human. With the level of my body manipulation, I could turn into one, or at least take an appearance. But I hadn't the slightest desire to do that. The feeling when Phoenix scratches the ears, caresses my tail... there is no way I would give up on this! Which, without a doubt, would lead to a huge ruckus, the government would probably want to study us... but a good beating here and there should fix it...

Ah, who I am kidding, there is no way it would end with just that... A war or two is more likely.

Do I really want to get back?

"But she is a demon! Not even a Champion! Why she is allowed, but we are not?!" the voice of the man from before slowly brought me back to reality.

"If she accepts the deal, I see no reason why it has to be only her. The world would lose its value as a source of souls for summoning, any of you that will want to return might have a chance. But only after this ordeal with Mardeal is over."

"And if she doesn't accept?" asked another Champion.

"Then you will stay with me for a bit longer..." answered Evelyn, "She is a demon now, a servant of the devil and with time her power will only grow. She puts my world in danger and this is the only option I could think of.

"I am definitely not a hero," I started to speak, "But I am not your enemy, this is now my world as well."

"For now, perhaps." Evelyn looked at me, "But can you claim that after serving the devil for a long time you will not change? That my world will not meet the same fate as those of your siblings?"

"Siblings?" I was a bit confused, "You mean Razel?"

"I meant both of them," answered Evelyn, "But yes, she is much worse. A Queen of Death, Destroyer of the Worlds, a creature of nightmares... even among her own people. Do you know that eight hundred years ago her world was on a brink of extinction? By her own hands."

That was news to me. Sei said a lot of things about her, but this wasn't mentioned.

"Men, women... children, she slaughtered everyone without exception." continued Evelyn, "If not for Ki, she might have continued until there was nothing left."

"I don't want to defend her," I started to speak, "But I find it hard to believe she would do something like that in her own world..."

"Of course there was a reason." sighed Goddess, "There is always something that justifies the slaughter... When she was away from her world, there was a coup, and a royal family that ruled for thousands of years was executed. Nothing out of ordinary as the history goes, but you probably already guessed... they were her descendants. Decades have passed and eventually, she has returned..."

I could see where this was going.

"Her wrath was fierce and more than half of the world had to pay the price. Ki, the god of her world, attempted to stop her. He summoned champions even before her arrival, but even ten years of preparations were not enough. This only drew her ire and she paid a visit to his other worlds sowing only death and destruction..."

Razel...

I carefully lifted the seal from memories of our battle in the world of Ira, and avoiding unpleasant parts, searched for the moment where she arrived to 'save' us...

Still in the state of madness, I was struggling hard to get free from Sei's grip, but it was useless. Chains covered in green flames bound me in place and I was unable to move. Devour soul, metal manipulation, phantom beast... nothing I have tried was working.

We were flying upwards on a metal boulder while constantly making evasive maneuvers. There was a chaos all around us. Meteors falling all over the place, storms the likes I never saw before. The fleet of airships was retreating now and was taking heavy casualties with each passing moment.

I took a glimpse at the ground just in time to witness one of Drarg's legs separating from its body, twenty ships in the air turned into dust almost at the same time. The severed leg of spider golem was over three kilometers long and it took some time before it reached the ground, the moment it did earth swayed like an ocean.

Even with my thought acceleration active I wasn't able to perceive the attack that caused this... though there was no need to guess where it came from.

I looked at the crater where the first meteor has crashed but the smoke and earth still in the air were obscuring the view, with our escape, the distance was increasing, making it even harder to see.

But she was there... I could feel it. A terrible aura radiating from a center of the crater made my hair stand on end. A loud laughter of woman still echoed all around us despite the distance, defying all laws and logic.

A dozen more ships suddenly turned into dust without any apparent reason. Many of the ships were constantly destroyed by meteors or lightning, but the attack she just used was a complete mystery to me.

The fleet wasn't the only ones who tried to escape.

Destroyer class golem, whose body reached the clouds, turned around and started to run. Which is probably why it lost one of its legs. But Drarg hasn't even paused to mourn the loss and rushed away from its 'rescuer'.

Meteors crashed to its body without a stop and all the damage fleet caused until now wasn't even close to what its supposed ally did in a few moments.

There could be hardly situation more fitting for the saying 'with friends like these, who needs enemies'.

With a loud bang, our bolder crashed to one of the meteors, but the barrier Sei created managed to protect us. There was simply too many of them to dodge everything. The meteor split in two from the impact and we continued further.

Little by little the world below us took a shape of a sphere, and I could see stars in the sky. Only the barrier around us prevented from suffocating as the green planet was growing distant even further.

When we finally left confines of sealed space, a blinding light suddenly surrounded us and the next moment we were back in the world with a giant red sun in the sky.

The laughter has finally stopped.

"And you want to send her to our world?!" one of the Champions suddenly shouted, a minotaur, but not the one I saw on the way there. "If we just kill her, she will be no longer a danger, problem solved..."

My attention was quickly drawn to a human clad in heavy armor, or to be more precise, to his rifle aimed at me... It looked like a mix between a sniper rifle and a shotgun. Just as I thought, I wasn't the only one who recreated firearms.

"Then you will have to deal with me first!" Phoenix glared at minotaur and a cloud of red sparks glittered in the air, they quickly faded without doing anything and Phoenix frowned while looking at the location they were just a moment ago.

It was supposed to be a flaming serpent, but enchantments of the temple disrupted the spell. A moment later, guns appeared in his arms and minotaur stepped back. Seems that at least some of Space Time Magic functions were still working, though I could feel that teleportation was impossible.

"Calm down everyone," Evelyn raised her hand. "I have said nothing about killing..."

"But she is dangerous," still continued minotaur. "It's our world we are talking about. I might have no intentions to return, but that doesn't mean I will just sit idly..."

"Easy there, big guy." Adam joined as well. "You heard the boss, we are not there to kill..."

Save for that human with rifle, there were two more Champions armed with guns, though their weapons were stored at the moment. If the fight has started, firearms would be a nuisance without a doubt, but the strongest opponent I think would be... pixie. With his size, he could literally hide inside a mug of beer, but mana concentration on his body was second only to Evelyn.

He was probably a mage, but I have a feeling that restrictions of the temple have no effect on the Champions. Our magic on another hand, was obscured...

Eyes of Derea were jumping from one Champion to another, accessing the threat level. Miriel was frozen in place, with her mouth wide open. Jack looked around nervously as well, but a gun and shield were already in his arms.

A gentle breeze touched my face and a grin appeared on my face.

The effect was weaker, but wind manipulation was working. I also activated my thought acceleration and it wasn't affected by the temple in the slightest. When I reached for metal particles within my clothes, my grin grew even wider. It seems that restrictions have limits.

"Before any of you do something stupid," Evelyn started to speak with rising anger, "Let me remind you that her master is a devil. The first of his kind and very powerful. The list of his enemies has eleven gods. Eleven!"

Her voice echoed through the halls with power and Miriel with some of the priests fell on one knee, trying to withstand the pressure.

Gravity manipulation.

Even my devour soul was almost useless against it. My body was already weighing nearly a ton, and it was steadily increasing.

"...and it's not his side that takes the beating." continued Evelyn, "Seven worlds void of any life, ten with only some of the plants and animals remaining, twenty-one with nearly half of its population missing. I don't want him as my enemy and you better don't force my hand!"

I sighed in relief when the pressure has vanished. At that time my weight was nearly three tones and while it was still not a problem for me, I was worried about Miriel. For a mage, she was quite strong considering her level, but at the end of the day, she was still only a pure mage.

Evelyn looked at me again and before could say anything, I did that first.

"I am sorry for my behavior during that summoning..."

I now knew she had nothing to do with my death. I doubt that even Dahaal would be able to accomplish that. At least not as a god. Maybe within their temple, they can use some of their power, but in general, their influence on the world is... limited. I should know... I have caused a lot of trouble for one with Sei, yet not even lightning has ever hit us. Zaredhal, the god of chaos could probably do that with ease, but from what I understand he is an exception... he and that system guy.

Evelyn was genuinely surprised when heard me and that irritated me to no end. I am a decent human being and can apologize when I am in the wrong... well, most of the time...

Hmm, a decent cat, demon cat... this doesn't sound very good, either. Oh well, it's your loss if you mind it.

"Summoning? Wait, you are that assassin from back then?!" Adam widened his eyes.

"Assassin?" someone asked.

"The one that cursed at the Goddess." he lowered his voice.

"It's her?" a few more Champions looked at me with a surprised expression.

"A demon... was she sent straight to the hell just for that?" a dryad looked at me with what looked like a pity, "I am glad I kept my mouth shut, this is why one should never piss a god..."

I wasn't in a rush to correct their misunderstanding as this was a perfect chance to get rid of those rumors with a dragon.

"It wasn't nice to put me into a body of dying slave." I whispered to Goddess.

She smiled.

"My real aim was a baby not far from there, but we rarely get what we want. Another soul took over the boy and my attention was needed elsewhere."

"A boy?!" I blinked in surprise.

"Yes." her smile turned into a grin, "You didn't exactly act like a lady the last time we have met. It was... fitting."

A shudder suddenly ran over my body and I realized that taking over the body of a dying girl actually wasn't that bad.

There was a reason why my soul awakening wasn't progressing well these days. I have yet to learn how to skip some of the memories from my past lives. It's one thing to watch the daily life of someone else, but when memories reach... activities in the bed...

Sound, smell, a feeling of touch... even thoughts could be experienced, that's nothing like watching a movie. I would beat to a pulp any of those guys if tried to touch me, but 'me' in those lives was of another opinion. I felt like cheating on Phoenix every time... and worst of all, in half of those memories I wasn't even a woman...

*

"...Mardeal is interfering with my powers, but there is no doubt that two more dungeons are active at the moment..." Evelyn continued her briefing.

It was mostly aimed at me, as others looked quite bored... like someone who listened to the same speech a few times before.

I learned that Kalh'dor house despite its attack on Endorod City, was still there. Only a part of their forces has participated in that fight, and while their leader has died in the battle, there was always someone in line for succession.

During the time I was playing a demon in another world, they were struggling to survive the trials, but it's not that easy to destroy someone of their rank, even if their actions bordered with a treason.

Their house had a lot of influence and powerful allies. If not for Silver Sword Order and enemies of Kalh'dor jumping at the chance to destroy them, it might have ended very differently. Many of their lands and titles were stripped, people mentioned in reports of Aurora enslaved, but Kalh'dor house, while now only a shadow of its former glory, still remains...

"They are probably aware that we know about them, so it's only a matter of time until they make a move," continued Evelyn. "It will be at least a few weeks before we have means to deal with dungeons permanently. Worst of all, one of the said dungeons is within the territory of Asari, and the influence of Silver Sword Order is... weak there." she then looked at me, "If worse came to pass, I would like your help with the one there..."

"That might be a bit... problematic..." I said while looking at Phoenix. The last time I dealt with a dungeon, it was with devour soul, but with a promise I made to Phoenix, I have no idea what I could do.

Unless...

I looked deep into my soul. Back then I had only devour soul in my arsenal, but with soul awakening, my understanding is much better now. Maybe eating a soul wasn't the only way to 'steal' the bond with the dungeon.

"...But I will see what I can do." I finished my sentence with a smile.

By the way, there is no journey to the Earth in near future. Evelyn wants my help with Mardeal, a god that aims for this world and is not in a rush to send me away. I still have not decided if I will accept, but it was nice to know I have an option.

"Couldn't we at least placed a seal on her like on that slut." I heard a familiar voice whisper behind me.

"You are aware that as beastkin she has good hearing, right? Well, demon beastkin... hmm... demon beast? Anyway, if you were that devil guy and someone tried to do what you just suggested to one of your slaves, what would you do?" when I looked behind me, I saw Michael talking with that harem guy, Nick.

"I would. Oh..." the voice of human trailed off and when he saw my gaze quickly averted his eyes.

I was once a slave, and while it wasn't particularly bad experience in my case, being compared to one left a sour taste in my mouth.

Wait, Demon Beast? I better stop before this has turned into a problem...